The UK's Queen Victoria proclaims that nation's neutrality in the U.S. Civil War and the Philadelphia police bomb MOVE - with a reading from UK Prime Minister Winston Churchill's speech known as "Blood, Toil, Tears, and Sweat."

The birthday club includes Albert Murray, Burt Bacharach, and George Carlin - with a reading from e. e. cummings' "somewhere i have never travelled, gladly beyond."

The first book (that we know of) is published and happy birthdays to Harriet Quimby, Irving Berlin, and Rose Auslander - with a reading from Auslander's "Love VI."

Victoria Woodhull becomes the first woman nominated to run for U.S. President, Winston Churchill becomes English Prime Minister, and the birthday club includes Max Steiner, Ariel Durant, and Bel Kaufman - with a reading from Kaufman's "Up the Down Staircase."

The English and Portuguese sign the Treaty of Windsor, and happy birthdays to J. M. Barrie and Richard Adams - with a reading from Barrie's "Peter Pan."

Victory in Europe Day, smallpox is declared eradicated, and happy birthdays to Robert Johnson and Naomi Klein - with a reading from Klein's "This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. The Climate."

Ludwig van Beethoven's Ninth Symphony premiers in Vienna, Germany surrenders to end its involvement in the Second World War, and the birthday club includes Ruth Prawer Jhabvala and Angela Carter - with a reading from Carter's "The Lady of the House of Love."

The Works Progress Administration is created in the U.S., and the birthday club includes Orson Welles, Bob Seger, and Martha Nussbaum - with a reading from Nussbaum's "Not for Profit: Why Democracy Needs the Humanities."

The birthday club includes Soren Kierkegaard, Karl Marx, Tammy Wynette, and Michael Palin - with a reading from Kierkegaard's "Either/Or."

The March 4th Movement in Beijing, the Freedom Riders get rolling, and Ohio National Guard troops shoot and kill four students at Kent State - with a reading from Ernest Hemingway's "The Old Man and the Sea."